Almost $100 billion in expenditure on education and disability insurance is to be locked in for a decade as the Gillard government tries to insulate its reforms from future economic pressures and force the hand of Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

The unprecedented move is designed to guarantee the survival of both signature reforms, quell doubts over their long-term funding and prevent cash-strapped governments from diverting resources to other areas.

The political manoeuvre is set to enrage the Coalition, which has already complained of ''booby traps'' being laid in the budget.

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The budget, to be handed down on Tuesday night, will contain savings to limit this year's deficit and plans to ensure dedicated funding streams for the Gonski education reforms and the national disability insurance scheme, DisabilityCare Australia.

While its parameters are not yet finalised, DisabilityCare is expected to cost almost $68 billion over the next 10 years and the schools deal - assuming all the states sign up to it - about $26 billion.

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The government's intention is to outline ''responsible saves'' extending over a decade.

''This is a test for Mr Abbott,'' Treasurer Wayne Swan told Fairfax Media. ''If he supports DisabilityCare, then he needs to support the responsible saves we're making to fund it over 10 years - or tell us where he'll cut.''

On Tuesday, Mr Swan defended his plan for education and disability care, telling reporters at Parliament House that ''tonight is very much about some very big investments which will deliver for our country for decades to come''.

The Treasurer argued: ''You can't invest in education on a four-year forward estimate cycle . . . If you've got a permanent or severe disability you don't have it for four years over the forward estimates. You have it for life.''

Independent MP Tony Windsor said he was pleased Mr Swan had made the 10-year funding plan.

''I think those two issues of NDIS and Gonski are terribly important and they are long-term issues,'' he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.

But he questioned whether the government could actually forecast that far out. ''You could forecast the spend, it might be difficult forecasting the revenue flow towards it,'' he said.

Mr Winsdor also said he thought Mr Swan would not be the Treasurer after the September election.

''My guess is that there will probably be a change of government at the next election, may not be, I've been wrong before.''

Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey said he wanted the budget to be honest and tell the truth.

''If Wayne Swan can barely deliver honestly for two months in budget numbers how can we believe him over a decade? But I do want him to have a go,'' Mr Hockey said.

Opposition finance spokesman Andrew Robb said that the Coalition was ''totally committed'' to the NDIS (DisabilityCare) but would have to look at the savings against it.

''If we get the opportunity to get this economy back in strong order, it would be something that would be funded out of consolidated revenue,'' he told ABC Radio on Tuesday. ''We would get rid of the (increased) Medicare levy that will part fund it.''

He also criticised the lack of detail on the Gonski education reforms.

''This is really quite extraordinary when you think about it - all of these major multibillion-dollar, long-term commitments, against which there is no sustainable revenue, all being made by a government that has been incapable of managing the nation's finances.''

The moves to shore-up Labor's big reforms come after the recent attempt to politically wedge Mr Abbott on increasing the Medicare levy to fund disability insurance failed when he backed the 0.5 per cent rise. The increase is expected to be legislated within weeks, taking the levy to 2 per cent.

Mr Swan said the budget would ensure the economy and job levels remained solid. ''The budget will continue to do what Labor has always done - to make the choice to put jobs and economic growth first,'' he said. ''It will set a pathway to surplus and makes the smart investments for our future.''

The budget will be Mr Swan's sixth and, by his own admission, his most complex. It carries the hopes of Labor supporters, coming exactly four months before the September 14 election. It has had to be crafted amid some of flukiest economic circumstances since the global financial crisis.

With revenue declining, employment softening, the terms of trade turning south and the dollar destructively high, it is difficult to say which is the bigger ask of Mr Swan's economic blueprint: the politics or the economics. In fact, the two are entwined due to the Treasurer's post-GFC pledge of a surplus this financial year as proof of Labor's fiscal rectitude.

A massive $17 billion collapse in projected company tax receipts this year - the result of the high dollar, falling commodity prices and the maturing resources boom - has shredded the government's political/economic strategy leading up to the election.

With its surplus pledge abandoned just before Christmas, the government is now trying to balance the short-term requirement to support growth with the political imperatives to minimise the deficit and convince voters that a new surplus promise is more than words.

Speaking to Labor MPs in Canberra on Monday, Mr Swan acknowledged the revenue collapse had taken a political toll but said ''we have a bloody good story to tell about our economy's performance over the last five years, and this budget gives us a great chance to tell that story''.

In its quest for savings, the government has already been forced to abandon a boost to family tax benefits of up to $300 for those with one child and up to $600 for those with more. Gone too is a planned tax cut in 2015 to compensate households for the expected high carbon price.

On foreign aid, the bipartisan commitment to achieve the Millennium Development Goal of aid totalling 0.5 per cent of gross national income has been delayed for another year.

With Peter Martin

The budget so far

NEW SPENDING

Disability Care: $68b over 10 years.

School education: $26b over 10 years.

Road upgrades: Melbourne’s Outer Ring Road, $1.42b over the life of the project (contingent on state government contribution).

Relaxed rules for Newstart recipients: $300m per year.

SAVINGS

Scrapped boost to Family Tax Benefit A: $1.8b over 3 years.

Boost to Medicare levy from mid 2014: $3.3b per year.

Deferred tax cuts for carbon price compensation due in 2015: $1.4b per year.